About Me

I am a person with varied interests.
Music is my breath and though I like all kinds of music, I am enamoured of the variety and the depth of Indian Classical music.As far as Film music is concerned, I love Old songs and ILaiyaraaja-whom I consider as one of the best composers in the world- is my favourite composer.
I love travelling and meeting new people . A lover of nature, I prefer those long walks.

My Other Blog

Wednesday, 3 August 2016

ILaiyaraaja- The Playful Musician

Of all
the senses humans have (and this includes the perceived sixth sense), the most
significant and effective sense is Sense
of Humour.

People can
wriggle out of a tough situation just because of this sense. A very tense
situation can be made to look very simple using this sense. This sense not only
makes us laugh at ourselves without any inhibitions but also makes others laugh
(at themselves/at the situation). Humour acts at the physical, mental and emotional
level and therefore at the spiritual level too. If this statement sounds funny,
think. What is spirituality without the body,
mind and emotions being in
coordination? Most importantly, what is spirituality without positive feelings? In fact, one who is
not positive can never be spiritual and one who is spiritual is always
positive. What better way to get positive feeling than that sense of humour?
So, next time you come across a person who calls himself/herself as spiritual,
check if that person has this sense.

Unlike
popularly believed, poets and artistes too have sense of humour, though the
degree and the way they express this, varies. For some, it pours out as
sarcasm. For example, Mahakavi used
sarcasm in some of his poems, especially the ones where he derided the British
rule. For example - Oi thilkare namma
jaathikku adukkumo- in the same style as ‘Oi nandanaare namma jaathikkadukkumo’..

In my earlier posts here 2 years back, I covered
Humour as an emotion in two different posts and quoted two poems –one by Avvaiyar and the other by Kavi KALamegam. It is one more poem of
the latter that I am quoting now. He was called as ‘sledai kavi’(சிலேடை ) because of his natural ability to
compose poems with words which give two
or more meanings(all poems can be interpreted in more than two ways but this is
different).

Look at
this poem:

காக்கைக்காகாகூகைகூகைக்காகாகாக்கை

கோக்குக்கூகாக்கைக்குக்கொக்கொக்க - கைக்கைக்குக்

காக்கைக்குக்கைக்கைக்காகா.

For the benefit of people who cannot read Tamizh, I am giving it in English:

Kaakkaikaa
Kaakoogai Koogaikka Kaakaakkai

Kokkukkoo
Kaakkaikku Kokkokka-KaiKaikku

Kaakkaikku
Kaikkaaikkaa Kaa.

I can already sense the smile on your faces. So, is this
some kind of a blabber written just for fun?

Let us see the meaning:

‘Kaakkai’ means Crow and ‘Koogai’ means Owl. The
crow cannot defeat the owl nor can the owl defeat the crow. This is because a
crow cannot see in the night while an owl’s vision is zero during the day.
Likewise, a smart king should be like the crane
(kokku) which relentlessly and
patiently waits for the fish. Otherwise, even if he is strong, he cannot save
his kingdom.

This verse shows the sense of humour of the poet, but it
also shows his brilliance. Note that he has used only variants of the letter ‘க‌ ‘(ka).

Just an example of a genius with a great sense of humour..

That the musical genius ILaiyaraaja is also endowed with a great sense of humour is not
known to many-especially people who criticize him at the drop of a hat. As
mentioned earlier, I discussed two different songs in the year 2014 ,
though there are many more.

Isn’t it time then to take up yet another song which has
one in splits even if he/she does not understand Tamizh?

There are many reasons for ‘Kaadal Kasakkudaiah’ from
‘AaN Paavam’(1985) sounding
humorous. The wordings seem to have a dig at what is called as ‘Love’ but in
reality it only praises Love after marriage. The way the entire song is
rendered by the Master himself and
the way he has done the arrangement
and orchestration speak volumes of
his humourous sense. But what the most striking aspect the raga on which the tune is
based.

In Carnatic Music,
though all ragas are classical, some are more classical. If I sound Orwellian, it maybe because of the
reason that I like Animal Farm, but
this is immaterial and irrelevant now. .What is relevant however is the fact
that Shanmukhapriya is one such raga which falls under the ‘more
classical’ category. Somehow, the Maestro
has always been very fascinated by this raga. Yes, many ragas fascinate him but the reason for my saying this is because he
has composed many ‘kiNdal’ songs in
this raga. ‘PoNNu Paarkka’(AvaL Oru
pachchikuzhandai), ‘Vengaaya Saambarum’(Panneer PushpangaL), ‘Ammaadichinnapaappa’(IndRu
Poi NaaLai Vaa), ‘Vettu Vedippom’(ANNe ANNe), ‘OoruVittu Ooru Vandhu’(Karakattakkaran)
are some examples of this. But what is more amazing is the fact that the
classicism of the raga was never
compromised.

‘Kaadal
kasakkudiah’ is probably doubly special because it was he who rendered it.

The prelude is
a collage of rhythm. In fact, it has only the different percussion instruments playing variegated patterns in chatushram. The mridangam with its unique resonance plays the 16 micro beats for one cycle with kaarvai in the beginning. The unique sound of mugarsing(or morsing as it is popularly known) follows in the next
cycle. The kanjira breaks the 4 into 16 as ta ki ta/ ta ki ta/ta
ka/ta ki ta/ta ki ta/ ta ka(3, 3, 2/3, 3, 2).

The following cycle sees the wondrous combination of the synth sound and the drums with the former striking only the
first syllable and the latter
playing the chatushram in mel kaalam. The mridangam and tabla play
all the syllables in the next cycle. But what follows is interesting again. These
play as ta ka ta ki ta/ta ka ta ki ta/ta
ka dhi mi/ta- 5/5/4/2. Two khandams,
one chatushram and one two.. After
all, this is what one expects from ‘L’
Raaja(if you think ‘L’ is for love, you are thoroughly mistaken).

So, with the rhythm setting the right tone, the Pallavi bubbles with energy..

The gliding gracefulness cannot be missed. It starts with
the upper ‘Ga’ and goes down like ‘Ga Ri Sa ni dha pa dha ma’. A beautiful
innovation indeed!

The swaras-pa dha ni- give the signature of the raga, and the sangati in the last line and the descent/ascent in the last phrase
show the beautiful facets of the raga.
The raga’s name itself suggests it is
multifaceted and if it is handled by a multifaceted musician, do we need to say
that the experience will be exhilarating?

Another wonderful aspect of the Pallavi is the use of jaalra
and a subtle violin backing the vocals. It is ‘L’ Raaja again when the percussion
thunders with the third syllable of chatushram
in every cycle.

The shehnai
plays with ecstasy in the first
interlude weaving tassels of swaras
of Shanmukhapriya in the process. In
between, the guitar responds briefly.
It takes over after the shehnai-which
by now has drawn a lovely sketch of the raga-
and moves with an impish giggle. The shrill flute like sound guides us to the first CharaNam.

The lines in the first
CharaNam move with humourous gait albeit classically. The most classical
lines are the ones which start with ‘Theatreile..’ and the last two
lines. In fact, the last line is like a typical classical swaraprastaram.

Contrast this with the way ‘Kaadal Kasakkudaiah’ is
rendered after this and before the second
interlude. Marvellously humourous!

The second
interlude sees some nice exchanges between the various instruments. First
the guitar along with the bass guitar chortles. It does this 4 times and each time, a different set
gives repartee. To start with, it is the mridangam.
Next is the synth percussion. And
finally it is the flute twice,
playing different sets of swaras each
time. Yet another guitar titters
now. It is then the turn of the shehnai.
This very classical instrument simpers with the guitar and the flute sniggering and guffawing.

The momentum is maintained in the second CharaNam whose structure is different from that of the first
one. Each line(starting with the 5th line) parodies an old song
mentioning the respective name of the hero each time. The genius shows his
class here too by using the same swaras
of the originals songs(‘Manmada leelaiyai’, ‘Nadaiya’,’Hello Hello Sugama’)
though each one is based on a different raga. After all, music is universal.

Music is lighter too…

..or is it?

If you can not see this chirbit, listen to it here http://chirb.it/nNKeFG